Should the government have the authority to control what we do in our cars?

This question is at the heart of the issue of distracted driving.

Florida is one of a handful of states that does not enforce distracted driving as a primary offense. Drivers cannot be pulled over for distracted driving unless they have broken another traffic law.

Maybe that is why a recent study by EverQuote Inc. found Florida is the second-worst state for distracted driving.

Still, Florida’s Republican leadership is reluctant to make distracted driving a primary offense because some believe it is governmental overreach.

However, the question of whether the government can control what we can and cannot do in our cars already has been answered.

All 50 states now require us to wear seat belts while driving. Why? Because the government has decided it is in society’s best interest. From 1975 and 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates seat belts saved 255,000 lives in the U.S.

Using my seat belt helps save one life – mine.

Now let's compare that to distracted driving, which is often synonymous with texting and driving.

Driving distracted not only puts me, the driver, at risk, but it also jeopardizes the safety of everyone around me. Distracted driving is much more dangerous to society as a whole.

So if requiring seat belts is not governmental overreach, neither is outlawing texting and driving.

Often others pay the price for those who make such poor decisions.

For example, 24-year-old Florida State University student Lavon Reese was killed in a 2015 crash caused by a woman who was reportedly driving 89 mph on North Monroe Street while texting and driving.

Florida lawmakers are not the only ones to struggle with this question. The Texas Legislature recently passed a statewide texting while driving bill. Next, the bill heads to Gov. Greg Abbott to be signed into law, unless he decides to veto it. In 2011, Texas lawmakers passed a texting and driving bill that was later vetoed by then-Governor Rick Perry, who called the legislation “a government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults.”

In other words, he thought it was governmental overreach.

The latest Texas bill was passed two months after a distracted driving-related crash resulted in the deaths of 13 passengers on a church bus. Witnesses reported the 20-year-old driver who allegedly caused the crash admitted to texting and driving.

The tragedy renewed attention to the issue of distracted driving and helped in the push to pass the statewide ban.

In 2016, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles reported there were more than 50,000 distracted driving related crashes – more than five every hour. These crashes resulted in 3,500 serious injuries and 233 deaths.

Protecting Floridians from distracted drivers is not governmental overreach. Safety must come first. Let’s hope Florida lawmakers remember this during the next legislative session without needing their own tragic reminder.

Reggie Grant is an assistant professor of journalism at Tallahassee Community College. He can be contacted at grantr@tcc.fl.edu.